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This month, Domino's wants you to photograph your pizza and send your images back to them for a chance at a $500 prize.

In July, Harvey's asked you to submit possible names for their new premium burger in the Facebook-based "Burger With Your Name On It" contest.

And a Canadian woman just won a year's supply of Ben & Jerry's ice cream in a contest to name the company's newest "exclusively Canadian" flavour. Temporarily called "We Are Waffling," the flavour was renamed "Oh, Cone-ada!" by the Burlington woman, and will be on shelves in the new packaging this fall.

In the age of new media, advertisers are coming up with new and inventive ways to engage consumers — the basic idea being, of course, to get and hold people's attention for longer than a 30-second television spot will allow. (And, of course, to gather more email addresses and Facebook friends for direct marketing purposes).

Corporate goliath McDonald's is at it again.

After successfully launching a two-week "free coffee" campaign across Canada in 2009, McDonald's will be repeating the promotion this year.

And yes, the offer is exactly what it sounds like. For two weeks, from March 1-14, Canadians can again head into their local McDonald's for a free small coffee. (Online reports have noted that larger sizes may be made available to customers at lower-volume locations).

That's it. No further purchase or commitment required. Just walk into or drive through any McDonald's and order your free coffee. Talk about an effective way to get customers in the door.

The promotion operates around the principle that it takes people about two weeks to form a new habit. If people get into the routine of heading to their local McDonald's for a free coffee every day for two weeks, in theory, they'll keep coming back (and paying for their coffee) once the promotion is over.